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Lucas: Tensions point to showdown over Taiwan

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:20:20 GMT

The writing is on the wall.If the Biden administration is preparing evacuation plans for Americans living and working in Taiwan, then you know a Chinese Communist invasion is coming.Those invasion plans are only being strengthened by the political disarray in the United States—once the leading democracy in the world—where President Biden is trying to jail former President Donald Trump, his leading opponent in 2024.News of the rescue plan broke last Monday on the heels of still another provocation by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army against Taiwan and the U.S. while Biden continues to make nice with China.Hopefully, when the time comes, the rescue operation will go better than Biden’s botched—and deadly—retreat from Afghanistan where hundreds of Americans and thousands of Afghan allies were left behind.The latest provocation was the deployment of 10 Chinese fighter jets across the Taiwan Strait into Taiwanese air space. A week earlier the Chinese sent 37 military planes in and ar...

Cam Whitmore, a potential top-5 NBA draft pick from Odenton, was never allowed to take the easy path

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:20:20 GMT

Instead of removing obstacles from his son’s path, the father added them.The 8-year-old boy yearned to play in the NBA someday? Great, he’d practice dribbling with his offhand and attack, always attack, in a claustrophobic gym with a concrete floor and no air conditioning.Time to graduate to AAU ball? Off he’d go to the same Mount Royal Recreation sweatbox where Carmelo Anthony learned to fight for what was his.High school? Not at some Washington-area powerhouse where every kid aspired to be a McDonald’s All American. Try Archbishop Spalding, where the classes would be tough and the wins hard to come by.Myron Whitmore saw the requisite desire and physical skill in his son, Cam, but he thought the boy needed confrontation, constant confrontation. Otherwise, he might lose his edge.“I have a lot of, I call them philosophies, kind of old school,” Myron said. “I’ve always told him, ‘You don’t want to be among the best, you want ...

At least 3 Palestinians are killed as Israeli troops clash with Palestinian militants in West Bank

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:20:20 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli helicopter gunships struck targets Monday in the occupied West Bank as a gunbattle raged in the city of Jenin between Israeli troops and militants, killing three Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, officials said.The violence marked a rare use of Israeli airpower in the territory. During the clashes, Palestinian militants detonated a roadside bomb next to an Israeli military vehicle. At least 29 Palestinians were wounded, six seriously. The Israeli military said seven members of the paramilitary border police and the army suffered light and moderate wounds. The escalation was the latest in more than a year of near-daily violence that has wracked the West Bank.The Israeli military said troops came under a “massive exchange of fire” during an arrest raid in Jenin and shot back at Palestinian gunmen.“As the security forces exited the city, a military vehicle was hit by an explosive device, damaging the vehicle,” the army said, adding that helicopters “op...

Russian court starts trial of opposition leader Navalny that could keep him locked up for decades

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:20:20 GMT

MELEKHOVO, Russia (AP) — A Russian court on Monday opened a new trial of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny that could keep him behind bars for decades.The trial is taking place at a maximum security prison in Melekhovo, 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of Moscow, where Navalny — the Kremlin’s archfoe — is serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court.Navalny, 47, who exposed official corruption and organized major anti-Kremlin protests, was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.Navalny has said that the new extremism charges, which he rejected as “absurd,” could keep him in prison for another 30 years. He said an investigator told him that he would also face a separate military court trial on terrorism charges that could potentially carry a life sentence.The new trial comes as Russian authorities are conducting a sweeping crackdown on dissent amid the fi...

Protests, poisoning and prison: The life of Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:20:20 GMT

LONDON (AP) — In a span of a decade, Alexei Navalny has gone from the Kremlin’s biggest foe to Russia’s most prominent political prisoner.Already serving two convictions that have landed him in prison for at least nine years, he faces a new trial that could keep him behind for two more decades.The first court hearing occurred Monday in Penal Colony No. 6, where Navalny is being held, in the town of Melekhovo, about 230 kilometers (over 140 miles) east of Moscow. A look at Navalny’s life, political activism and the charges he has faced through the years:June 4, 1976 — Navalny is born in a western part of the Moscow region.1997 — Graduates from Russia’s RUDN university, where he majored in law; earns a degree in economics in 2001 while working as a lawyer. 2004 — Forms a movement against rampant overdevelopment in Moscow, according to his campaign website.2008 — Gains notoriety for alleging corruption in state-run corporations, such as gas giant Gazprom and oil behemoth Rosneft,...

Chinese online shoppers are enticed by deep discounts, payment plans as zest for spending lags

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:20:20 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese shoppers were treated to deep discounts, new products and payment plans as online merchants sought to revive their sluggish appetite for spending during China’s first major online shopping festival after the end of zero-COVID policies.For the first time, e-commerce retailer JD.com did not release the results of its 618 shopping festival, which ended Sunday, making it hard to know just how much was spent. A bigger shopping festival, Single’s Day, held on Nov. 11 each year rakes in billions of dollars. Analysts said most consumers have become more price-conscious and reluctant to spend given the sluggish economy.“Chinese consumer confidence remains weak due to a mix of geopolitics, continued weakness from COVID-19 and domestic Chinese politics,” said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of the China Market Research Group in Shanghai.Rein said that overall, consumers likely spent less during 618 as online retailers already were discounting heavily be...

Pakistan widens manhunt for human traffickers after boat carrying hundreds sank off Greek coast

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:20:20 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan on Monday widened its manhunt for human traffickers after a tragedy off the Greek coast last week that left more than 500 migrants feared drowned, including many Pakistanis, officials said.With no definitive casualty numbers announced, families feared for the fate of their loved ones and the nation observed a day of mourning Monday, declared by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s government. The Pakistani flag was flying at half-staff, and lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house of the parliament, expressed their condolences. The fishing trawler packed with migrants overturned and went down early Wednesday off southwestern Greece in one of the deadliest-ever incidents in the central Mediterranean Sea. The vessel was carrying as many as 750 people, including scores of Pakistanis, when it sank in international waters. A search-and-rescue operation has since been underway. Pakistan’s Embassy in Athens has so far identified 12 Pakistani nationals ...

Weekend mass shootings leave 6 dead and dozens injured across the US

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:20:20 GMT

A spate of weekend mass shootings and violence across the U.S. killed at least six people, including a Pennsylvania state trooper, and left dozens injured.The shootings follow a surge in homicides and other violence over the past several years that experts say accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. They happened in suburban Chicago, Washington state, central Pennsylvania, St. Louis, Southern California and Baltimore.“There’s no question there’s been a spike in violence,” said Daniel Nagin, a professor of public policy and statistics at Carnegie Mellon University. “Some of these cases seem to be just disputes, often among adolescents, and those disputes are played out with firearms, not with fists.”Investigators look over the scene of an overnight mass shooting at a strip mall in Willowbrook, Ill., Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)Researchers disagree over the cause of the increase. Theories include the possibility that violence is driven by the ...

Patroons win game two to force pivotal game three

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:20:20 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Patroons might have come into game one flat, but they came out soaring in game two of the east regional final. They defeated the St. Louis Griffins 115-97 to force a game three. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Getting things started for Albany was Arsenio Arrington, who knocked down a mid-range jumper to give the Patroons a 12-7 lead. The offense kept pouring it on from there as Trevis Wyche made his presence felt by netting a triple to extend the Patroons' lead by eight. Wyche kept that momentum going after Arrington got a block on the defensive end. He scored on a layup near the end of the first quarter, and the Patroons' had a commanding 34-26 lead after the opening quarter.Wyche led the Patroons in scoring with 27 points.When the second quarter came around, the Griffins closed the gap. Tavares Sledge fought his way through the Patroons' defense and scored on a layup that trimmed the deficit ...

ValleyCats earn first sweep of the season

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:20:20 GMT

TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Tri-City ValleyCats (19-14) picked up their first three-game sweep of the season and won both ends of a doubleheader by a score of 6-1 and 6-2 over the Florence Y’alls (17-16) on Sunday at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium. It was their second twinbill sweep of the year. Tri-City improved to five games above .500 for the first time this year, and are on a season-best five-game win streak. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Tri-City opened the scoring in the second. Carson McCusker led off the frame with a single off Rodney Hutchison. Zach Biermann picked up a single to send McCusker to second. Pavin Parks walked, and Ian Walters plated a run after he was issued a free pass to give the ‘Cats a 1-0 lead.The ValleyCats broke the game open in the sixth. Aaron Altherr greeted Michaek Kirian with a solo homer. It was Altherr’s sixth long ball of the season. Biermann and Parks then singled. Jakob Goldfarb reached on ...